NEW DIAGNOSTIC AND THERAPEUTIC STRATEGIES: SOMATOSTATIN ANALOGS. Part I 

Minerva Endocrinologica 2001 September;26(3):111-8

Copyright © 2001 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: Italian

Immunity and somatostatin receptors

Peluso G., Mansi L.

The presence of at least three different types of somatostatin receptors in the thymus has been demonstrated using molecular biology techniques or radioimmunological methods. In view of the chemotactical activity shown by somatostatin in other lymphopoietic regions like bone marrow, it was hypothesised that this neuropeptide might play a role in regulating cell migration in the thymus. The selective expression of somatostatin receptors on specific immunocompetent cells, both circulating and in lymphatic organs, allows the neuropeptide to have a modulating action also on the immune system. Functional studies have also shown that somatostatin can influence cell proliferation, cytokine and immunoglobulin production, natural killer cytotoxic activity, the maturation and migration of immune cells in both blood and lymphopoietic tissues. More recent evidence has enabled us to evaluate the altered expression of somatostatin receptors on lymphomonocytes during systemic disease.